From takoyaki@its.caltech.edu Sun Oct 29 18:28:42 2000 -0800 Status: R X-Status: X-Keywords: Date: Sun, 29 Oct 2000 18:28:40 -0800 (PST) From: Micah Sittig X-Sender: takoyaki@blinky To: zoris@usembassyjakarta.org, irc@usembassyjakarta.org Subject: Comments - a message to Amb. Gelbard Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Hello, This is a message to Ambassador Gelbard. If this is not the correct address, I would appreciate it being forwarded to him or one of his staff. Thanks! My name is Micah Sittig. I am a 21 year old American citizen studying applied physics at the California Institute of Technology. I also have an interest in American international relations, with a focus on Asia. Today I read an article in the New York Times about recent criticism by the Jakartan government aimed at Ambassador Gelbard, where top Indonesian officials and lawmakers accuse the ambassador of "meddling". When I read about the situation, it immediately brought to mind a situation I had read a few weeks ago in the 1960's book "The Ugly American" by Eugene Burdick and William J. Lederer. Some of the American characters in that book are full of good intentions, but deliver the message in the wrong way. This parallels Ambassador Gelbard's situation today. Everybody knows that the Indonesian government is full of corruption. The American embassy is merely pointing it out, right? In the NY Times article it said that the Japanese ambassador has even applauded the ambassador's efforts to point out the government's shortcomings. The rub is in the delivery. Purely from the fact that the Jakartan government runs on the "under the table" system it should be evident that overt criticism is not natural to the country of Indonesia. Heck, I'm not Indonesian but I figured that out myself. Blunt and direct words may be the clearest way of describing a problem, but in the eastern hemisphere they will often breed resentment and bitterness. I urge Ambassador Gelbard to use more persuasive and effective measures in helping the Indonesian government towards a corruption-free future. Be friends with the Indonesian people; they may belong to a different culture but they are, after all, people just like you and me. Micah Sittig Class of 2001 ps, I recommend the book "The Ugly American" as a good read. It may be a 40 year old book, but the ideas it contains are timeless.